


Peace and Quiet

by Ill_Ratte



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game), Detroit: Evolution
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Father-Son Relationship, First-time fatherhood, Fluff, Gen, Nightmares, Octopunk Media, Pre-Canon, Trans Gavin Reed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-15
Updated: 2020-04-15
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:14:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23659717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ill_Ratte/pseuds/Ill_Ratte
Summary: (This is also based on Detroit: Evolution :) )Even before Nines, Gavin has nightmares.Jeffrey tries to help Gavin sleep.
Relationships: Jeffrey Fowler & Gavin Reed
Kudos: 71





	Peace and Quiet

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a comment!!

By the end of the day, there was nothing Jeffrey wanted more than peace and quiet. But peace and quiet didn’t come easily. 

Shifts at the DPD were long, stretching well past dark, and being single meant the only comfort of coming home was a cold beer and takeout in the fridge. Well, that and the boy. 

Jeffrey wasn’t one for people, but from first setting eyes on the kid, he knew in his heart that he would have done anything to help him. At first, it had just meant a drive around the block a few times, to let him ride his high out, and for Jeff to figure out what exactly he had to do with him. An offer for an internship and a warm cup of coffee plus a sandwich. Enough to keep the kid breathing. 

Now, it was a room in Jeffrey’s apartment. Supposedly, it had started its life as a guest room, occupied sometimes by his sister, when the atmosphere of their familial home grew too stuffy to manage, and once by Hank. But mostly, it had stood empty, a waste basket for all of the odds and ends that Jeffrey couldn’t quite fit into his own bedroom. 

He had first dropped the kid, Gavin, off at a shelter. The kid had refused any further intervention, and Jeff had felt the air leave him just a little lighter at that. He would wash his hands of him until the internship, and he’d return to his empty apartment. 

Gavin stayed in the shelter for less than a week, conflicting stories flying between him and the staff. And against Jeff’s better judgement, Gavin ended up in the hastily cleared out second bedroom of his apartment. 

For the past three weeks, Gavin had been nothing more than a shadow in his apartment. Even on Jeff’s days off, the most he caught of Gavin was the padding of socked feet to and from the kitchen, and a flash of wild brown hair. He had appreciated the distance, even if it was as borne from the same hesitance a hurt animal gave its rehabilitator. Gavin was still wild after all, a feral cat brought in and yet to be tamed for family life, scarfing down food so fast he nearly choked on the few occasions Jeff had caught him long enough to spend a meal together. 

But now, as Jeffrey staggered more than stepped up the rickety stairs, his eyes couldn’t help but catch on the sliver of buttery yellow light under Gavin’s doorframe. At 3:45 am, just 15 minutes after Jeff’s shift had ended, Gavin had very little business being up.

So, despite exhaustion tugging at his eyelids, Jeffrey knocked on his door. Just a short, sharp knock, impersonal enough that Jeffrey could imagine being on the other side of it, back in his boot camp days. It was impersonal enough, at the least. 

“What?” Gavin said quietly. 

“Are you still up?” Jeffrey said. He didn’t know what else to add, and a sudden wave of self-consciousness overtook him, so he shoved his hands back into his pockets. In his 38 years of living, he had never had to “parent”. 

“Yeah. … Why?”

“It’s getting late, buddy. You should think about sleep.” 

“... ok. Goodnight?” 

“Goodnight.” Jeffrey repeated before retreating to his own room. When his head hit the pillows, sleep had never come so fast. 

An hour or so later, Jeff woke in need of water. When he passed by Gavin’s room on his way to the kitchen, the light was off. 

Jeffrey had the late shift again the next day. Work caught his mind in a whirlwind, and by the time he made it back home, he had nearly forgotten the incident last night. That was partly helped along by the absence of Gavin at breakfast. But as he crept back up the stairs, not wanting to wake his startlingly nocturnal houseguest, he realized he didn’t have to. Searing yellow spilled from Gavin’s room like a prison at Lights On. 

This time, when his knock was met with a “Yes?”, Jeffrey asked, “May I come in?”

At the gruff “Sure.”, Jeffrey slid the door open. Gavin sat upright in bed, his phone clasped tightly in his hands. Instead of the sets of pajamas Jeff had bought for him, he wore jeans and a ratty sleeveless hoodie, the tan fabric of the binder Jeffrey had bought for him peeking out. So, Gavin wasn’t getting ready for sleep. 

“You should think about getting to bed, kid.” 

Gavin blinked. A noise trilled from his phone. He didn’t look down. 

“It’s getting late. It’s, uhh, 3:50 am. Don’t you have… something tomorrow?”

Gavin shook his head. Even with the patchy stubble from Gavin’s on-and-off doses of testosterone (Which Jeffrey still needed to take Gavin in to get bloodwork for, he reminded himself), he still had enough of a baby face to make him look like a sheepish, slightly overgrown child. “The internship doesn’t start for a bit. Unless there’s something else I can do to help out-“

“It’s not necessary. Is there something wrong, Gavin?” He asked quietly. 

Gavin waited a moment before shaking his head no. When Jeffrey asked if he was sure, he shook it more vigorously, like he had just been warming up before. 

“Just… I want to make sure you’re getting enough sleep.” Jeffrey flashed Gavin a tight smile before closing the door. He tried not to think about how dark the circles under Gavin’s eyes had gotten. 

Over the next few days, Jeffrey had afternoon shifts. Not as soul-sucking as the late ones, but they deposited him back home just a half hour too late for dinner. To his surprise, each time he checked, Gavin had gone to bed at a normal hour. So if there was a problem, Jeff decided, it was only when he wasn’t around. 

Gavin had even reappeared, less shadow and more tentative baby deer stumbling around his home. They ate lunch together right before Jeff left for work, and the dark circles lessened with each meal. By the time Jeffrey had another late shift, he had nearly forgotten the problem. 

He didn’t think much of seeing Gavin’s light on the first night, given the boy had been keeping to a normal schedule for the past few days. The second and third nights worried him. By the fourth late shift in a row, Jeffrey realized a marked difference in Gavin’s appearance. The boy looked haggard. Gaunt, too, as if he hadn’t been eating. 

Jeffrey caught him at lunch. Gavin had barely staggered out in time, rubbing at his eyes as he plopped onto the seat opposite from Jeff. “It’s good to see you up.” Jeff said. 

Gavin nodded, still rubbing. 

“Sleep ok?”

“Uh huh.” Gavin didn’t meet his eyes. 

“Why do you stay up so late when I’m not here?” 

Gavin’s eyes sprang open like a deer caught in headlights right as realization burned through Jeff. 

“Buddy… are you afraid of sleeping alone?” 

Gavin pushed up from his chair, wood scraping against tile like nails on a chalkboard. “I feel kinda sick. Think I’m gonna lie down.” He was gone before Jeff could call out for him. 

It was all the answer Jeff needed, but he had never felt more helpless. Gavin wouldn’t want his help, didn’t even want to talk. And it wasn’t like he could skip out on his work, even if Gavin desperately needed the sleep. And Jeffrey couldn’t be two places at once. Another thought raced through him, and he stood up from the table. He could put the lunch leftovers away later, he thought, as he went to the storage closet. Right now, he had something he needed to find. 

———-

At 8:30 pm, Jeffrey knocked on Gavin’s door. It took three tries before Gavin allowed him entrance. 

Jeff hid his object behind his back as he approached Gavin’s bed. This time, the kid had a book balanced on his lap. He was halfway through. 

“Is it good?” Jeff pointed at the book.

“It’s alright.” Gavin regarded him warily. 

“That’s good. Reading keeps the brain sharp.”

Gavin stared at him, so Jeff seated himself at the foot of Gavin’s bed. He tapped his fingers against the galaxy-themed covers. “I brought you something. Sort of like a present. For both of us, I think.” From behind his back, he produced a slightly tattered stuffed tiger. 

Gavin’s lips curled. “I’m not a child.” He said stiffly. “You don’t have to treat me like one.” He looked angry. Pissed, actually. Except for the subtle sheen of tears that gave him away. 

“I know you’re not a child, Gavin. But I know you’re having trouble sleeping, and I wanted to give you something to help you.” Before Gavin could jerk away, he clamped a hand down on his shoulder. “I used to have the same problem when I was your age. Well, a similar one. This little guy helped me through a lot, ok? And I want him to help you, too.” 

Gavin sniffed, and Jeffrey looked away momentarily to allow him privacy to regain his composure. When he looked up, Gavin had tucked the tiger against his chest. “I get nightmares a lot. Whenever I go to sleep, really. But it helps to know there’s someone else here. Someone who cares.” 

Jeffrey pulled him into a hug, clapping his back firmly. Gavin’s stubble tickled against his cheek as the boy pressed closer. “Call me if you have one, ok? I may not be here, but I’m more than happy to talk to you, if that’s what you need. It’s boring as hell during the late shift.” 

Gavin laughed. “Will do, Lieutenant.” 

When Jeffrey returned home at 3:35 am, the light in Gavin’s room was off, and the door ajar. Jeff peered inside. Gavin had curled up underneath his covers, the Tiger secured against himself. He was the picture of peaceful, and even Jeffrey’s goodnight kiss to his forehead didn’t wake him.


End file.
